Livingston County lost two legends this week, within two days of each other. And when I say “legends,” I mean all-time legends. In Livingston County annals, there are only a handful of people in their league, and it’s a cruel twist of fate that we lost both of them on the same weekend.
Jack LaBelle was the longest-serving county commissioner in Michigan history, having represented the Green Oak Township area on the county board for 44 years. He passed away on Friday at the age of 83.
Two days later, Duane Zemper of Howell passed away at the age of 96. Zemp was a combat photographer in World War II and then spent decades as a photographer and historian in the Howell area.
I had the privilege of getting to know both of these men during my time as a newspaper editor in our county, and even though they operated in different spheres – LaBelle in local government and Zemper in local history – they had one thing in common: When it came to Livingston County, they knew everything about everything.
If you wanted to know the history behind a certain parcel of land in Livingston County, you’d ask Jack LaBelle. If you wanted to know how a certain road got built, you’d ask Jack LaBelle. If you wanted to know why there was a stoplight at this intersection and not that one, you’d ask Jack LaBelle.
Likewise, if you wanted to hear a great story about Page Field in Howell, you’d ask Duane Zemper. If you wanted to hear a great story about the Livingston County Courthouse, you’d ask Duane Zemper. If you wanted to know how Michigan Avenue Middle School became the Howell Post Office, you’d ask Duane Zemper.
Two legends, lost in the same weekend. Damn, that’s cruel.
Here’s how long Jack LaBelle was on the county board. Back in 1999, when I was the managing editor of the Brighton Argus, I wanted to do a story on the 30-year anniversary of the moon landing. So I went back and looked at an old copy of the Argus from the week of July 20, 1969.
On the same front page of the paper as the moon landing was a story about a new county commissioner named Jack LaBelle. And I thought to myself, “Dang, Jack has been on the board since before man walked on the moon!”
He served 44 years in all. Every so often, somebody would run against him, and they always got crushed. Nobody was ever going to replace Jack LaBelle.
His accomplishments as a commissioner were countless, as he helped Livingston County transition from a sleepy place filled with lakes and farms to the place it is now. Foremost among these was his work with our emergency services, including getting a 911 system in place. Livingston County is a safer place thanks to Jack’s work.
But I think Jack’s legacy won’t just be what he accomplished, but how he did it.
He only served for 12 of his 44 years as the chairman of the county board of commissioners, but even when he wasn’t the chairman, he was still the man in charge. Everybody knew that this was Jack LaBelle’s board.
Some years back, a guy I knew really well was elected to the county board. And he told me what happened right after the election.
“Jack LaBelle took me aside and said, ‘This is how we do things,’” he said. “We can disagree and vote however our conscience tells us to, but we aren’t going to fight, we aren’t going to be unprofessional and most of all, we aren’t going to be in the newspaper for acting like a bunch of idiots. You got it?”
He got it.
And sure enough, during Jack’s 44 years on the board, you rarely if ever read about a meeting of the Livingston County Board of Commissioners getting out of hand. He did things the right away, and demanded that everyone else do them the right way, too. He didn’t suffer fools, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to let them ruin his board.
That’s what Jack one of the best public officials we’ve ever had in Livingston County, and that’s what made him a legend.
Sometime in the 1990s, I wrote a column called “Livingston County’s Mt. Rushmore.” I decided to take a stab at naming the four people in our history who – for whatever reason – had had the greatest influence on Livingston County.
The four people I put on Livingston County’s Mt. Rushmore were Charlie Gehringer (the Detroit Tigers Hall of Famer from Fowlerville); Joyce Rogers (the longtime director of the Greater Brighton Area Chamber of Commerce); Dick Chrysler (the Cars & Concepts founder and later Congressman from Brighton) … and Jack LaBelle.
After that column, Jack wrote me a note saying that he didn’t deserve to be on that list.
“If I had Charlie Gehringer’s talent, Dick Chrysler’s money or Joyce Rogers’ influence, maybe I’d deserve it! But I’m just a guy trying to get roads paved,” he wrote.
Nah, Jack. You’re wrong. You deserve it.
There also needs to be a spot on our Mt. Rushmore for Duane Zemper.
His work as a World War II combat photographer didn’t make him just a local legend; it also made him a national one. There’s a collection at the Smithsonian that bears his name.
And when you hear “combat photographer,” you probably have visions of a guy who tags along with the troops, taking snapshots of pilots and people holding rifles.
It wasn’t like that at all for Duane Zemper. He did truly heroic work during the war.
Working with the Air Force, Duane would fly combat missions himself. He was right up there in the airplane as the bombs were dropped and the anti-aircraft fire came in.
His job was to accurately photograph the bombing runs. At just the right moment, he had to capture an image of whatever target they had just bombed. This helped the generals figure out if the mission had been a success, or if they had to go back again. It was stressful, dangerous, extremely important work. (You should check out this excellent documentary about his combat work here.)
When I came to Livingston County in 1983 and started working for the Livingston County Press, Zemp was one of the first people I met. One of the people at the newspaper then told me a really interesting story about him.
As a student-athlete at Michigan Normal College in Ypsilanti (now Eastern Michigan University), Zemp was a two-time All-American in cross country in 1940 and 1941. As distance runners go, he was one of the fastest men in the country.
In 1940, Zemp was scheduled to compete at the U.S. Olympic Trials, and was considered one of the favorites to make our Olympic team. The 1940 Olympics were originally awarded to Tokyo, Japan, but when World War II broke out, the Games were switched to Helsinki, Finland. As the war worsened, the 1940 Olympics were eventually canceled altogether – along with whatever dreams Duane Zemper had of becoming an Olympic athlete.
So he joined the Army and became a combat photographer instead. Then, when the war ended, he settled in Howell and started his photography business. He spent the next 60 years or so chronicling everything big that ever happened in the community.
Zemp’s local photos and negatives finally found their way to the Carnegie District Library as part of the Howell Area Archives. They will be treasured and enjoyed for generations to come.
Livingston County is mourning the loss of these legends, and my thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of Jack LaBelle and Duane Zemper. Our county is better and richer because of them. May they rest in peace.
